High speed counting and stacking apparatus



y 1958 L.. MITCHELL ETAL 3,392,853

Filed Nov. 8, 1966 INVENTOR. GALE L. GREER BY REX L. MITCHELL WMVZ/ATTORNEY July 16. 1968 R. L. MITCHELL ETAL 3,392,853

HIGH SPEED COUNTING AND STACKING APPARATUs Filed Nov. 8, 1966 5Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. GALE LGREER REX L. MITCHELL ATTORNEY I5Sheets-Sheefi 5 l mvzzmoa GALE L. GREER 4 y /Q:;kI-. MITCHELL R. L.MITCHELL ET AL HIGH SPEED COUNTING AND STACKING APPARATUS July 16. 1968Filed Nov- 8, 1966 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,392,853 HIGH SPEEDCOUNTING AND STACKING APPARATUS Rex L. Mitchell, 3815 E. Fairmount,Phoenix, Ariz.

85018, and Gale L. Greer, 6625 E. Cypress, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85257 FiledNov. 8, 1966, Ser. No. 592,796 2 Claims. (Cl. 214-6) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A high-speed apparatus for automatically counting andstacking a predetermined number of flat objects such as tortillas andother disc-like objects. An electric light source is mounted to have itslight beam interrupted by the passing objects whereby two photocellscontrol the flow of electric current through a solenoid whose plungersequentially opens and closes horizontal receiving and discharge doorsupon which said objects are deposited in sequence. These doors arepositioned one above the other; the upper door opens each time a flatobject is deposited thereupon, and the lower door opens after a desirednumber of objects has been counted and stacked thereupon.

This invention relates to a counting apparatus and more particularly toan apparatus for the high speed automatic counting and stacking ofobjects such as tortillas, sandpaper discs, metal discs, etc., into apredetermined grouped quantity for packaging.

It is a common practice in the manufacture of tortillas and similarproducts to package such products in predetermined quantities, such as adozen, two dozen, and so forth, to a package. Such products are countedeither by hand or by weight. Packaging by weight is inaccurate, andusually overweig-hin'g is resorted to in order to pack at least therequired number of objects in a package. Hand packaging is expensive aswell as inaccurate, and where the objects to be packaged are fragile,there is the further drawback of possible damage to such objects.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide anobject counting and stacking machine which will avoid the abovedisadvantages, and which will enable the objects to be counted andstacked at high speed into predetermined grouped quantities forpackaging.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the abovetype which will handle articles of various sizes.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for stackingof fragile articles, such as tortillas and the like, without damagingthe articles during the handling process.

A further object is to provide an apparatus of the above type in whichthe number of articles to be stacked may be predetermined and easilychanged.

For the purpose of explaining a preferred embodiment of the invention,reference is made to the following drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of one embodiment of the counting andstacking machine;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the object positioning doors, and the dooropening and closing means;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the positioning doors and the feed rollerswhich supply the objects to the stacking mechanism;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURES 5, 6, 7 and 8 show the succession of the operating stages of thestacking mechanism; and

FIGURE 9 shows a circuit diagram of a suitable control circuit for usein the apparatus of our invention.

3,392,853 Patented July 16, 1968 In the following description of thepresent invention, (a) similar numerals refer to similar parts in theseveral views, and (b) except for FIGURES 1 and 9, the description hasreference to one single unit of the invention, it being understood bythose skilled in the art that in commercial use the invention mayconsist of any suitable plurality of units such as units A and B whichare shown in part in FIGURES 1 and 9, and which may be substantiallyidentical with each other except that the roller driving means andconveyer driving means shown at 6, 8, 62 and 63 of FIGURE 1 are utilizedto drive any desired number of individual units instead of two units asshown in FIGURE 1.

As shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 4, unit cover 1 has a substantiallyrectangular shaped body including a downwardly slanting guide 1a and apair of wells 1b. The sides of each well converge rearwardly and stop ata curved inner end. The slanting guides 1a have a rectangular shapedopening 10 to expose the top portion of each of the feed rollers 2.

The feed rollers 2 are mounted in suitable mounting plates 23 and areconnected, eg by a chain and sprocket drive 63, to a belt 64 driven by avariable speed motor 6.

In operative relation with the frame of the counting apparatus thus fardescribed, there are provided two endless conveyer bands shown at 50 and57 respectively, 50 being the input or feed conveyer for the objects tobe processed, and 57 the output conveyer for the objects having beencounted and stacked.

As best shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the invention further comprises alight source 25 and two light sensitive devices such as photocells 4 and5, these elements being so arranged that the objects to be counted willpass between the light source and the photocells as the objects progressfrom right to left (FIG. 4), driven by the feed rollers 2. To insure apositive grip or contact of the feed rollers 2 with the objects 10 to becounted and stacked without causing damage to the articles in case theyare of a fragile nature such as tortillas, for example, the feed rollersare provided with circumferential rubber treads or bands as shown at 2aof FIGURE 1.

FIGURES 2 and 5 through 8 show the object positioning, guiding andstacking device. As shown, each device comprises an upper door orshutter 3 and a lower door or shutter 3a, of which 3 is actuated by theelectric control mechanism 13a, and the lower door 3a is actuated by theelectric control mechanism 131;. Since the two control mechanisms aresubstantially identical in their construction, only one of them isillustrated in FIGURE 2. As shown, solenoid 13a actuates a plunger 14the outer portion of which has the shape of a wedge 14a which is adaptedto move in the triangular opening 14b of the door or shutter member 3.Two pivots are provided so that, when the core or plunger 14 is pulledinwardly by the energization of the solenoid 13a, the doors will pivotaround points 140 and will open to the position shown in dotted lines inFIGURES 2 and 6; this, in turn, will cause the object 10 to drop throughthe door opening to the bottom of the stacking guide or container 19.The duration of the opening period is just sufi'icient to permit theunloading of the object, whereupon springs 14e pull the doors back tothe closed position; 14 shows the springs in retracted position.

To correlate and control the timing of the various steps of theapparatus described, there are provided electric circuit elementsincluding relay 37, stepping mechanism 38, light source 25, photocells 4and 5, and the other circuit elements shown in FIGURE 9. The circuitshown is connected to a suitable source of power as shown conventionallyat 40. The stepping mechanism 38 is adapted to be preset to close acircuit through switch 39, after for example, twelve objects are countedand registered by the stepping mechanism. The closure of switch 39causes current to flow through solenoid winding 13b, thereby actuatingthe lower doors 3a as described above.

The operation of the automatic counting and stacking apparatus of theinvention is substantially as follows:

The input conveyer belt 50 carries the objects 10 to be counted andstacked in the direction of the arrow, so that they may be engaged bythe feed rollers 2 and moved into the path of the light beam emanatingfrom light source 25 (FIG. 4) said beam being received by photocells 4and 5 respectively. The relay 37 in the control circuit (FIG. 9), is notenergized when light is incident on photocell 4. However, when the lightis interrupted by the passage of the object 10 between the light sourceand the photocell 4, relay 37 is operated to close its contacts 29 andto feed current to the stepping mechanism 38. Mechanism 38 is adapted tostep and thus rotate its ratchet by one tooth when the coil of relay 37is deenergized. Thus, each object is automatically counted as it movespast the light source 25, upon the upper doors 3 of the stackingmechanism 39. The light beam emanating from source 25 passes freelythrough aperture 60 (FIGS. 2 and 3) when no object upon the door 3obstructs the passage of the beam. But when the door 3 is loaded by anobject, as described above, the light beam is interrupted, and photocell5 closes its contact to send current through solenoid 13a, thus openingthe upper door 3 and permitting the object to drop into stack box 19.When the number of objects which have accumulated in stack box 19 equalsthe predetermined setting of the stepping mechanism, switch 39automatically closes its contacts, solenoid 13b is energized, and thelower doors 3a of stack box 19 are opened, thus dropping the entirestack, containing the desired number of objects, upon the outputconveyer 57, ready for packaging.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of ourinvention and the manner in which it is to be performed, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the ar-t that the above description isillustrative rather than restrictive and that ch-anges and modificationsmay be made without departing from the scope thereof as set forth in theappended claims.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for counting and stacking objects into predeterminedquantities, comprising, in combination,

input means for feeding said objects singly in a row in which eachobject succeeds a preceding object, output means for said objects whenarranged in stacks, a source of light adapted to impinge a beam of lightupon each of two light sensitive means, counting means operativelyconnected to said light sensitive means to count each of said objectsupon exposu-re to said light sensitive means, said counter means beingadapted to be preset so that upon the accumulation of a desired numberof objects a release mechanism is actuated to drop said number ofobjects upon said output means, object stacking means for stacking adesired number of objects, said stacking means comprising upper andlower doors, said upper doors comprising means for opening said doorsautomatically when the light source indicates a loaded condition on saiddoor, and said lower door comprising means for automatically openingsaid door when said counting device indicates the accumulation of saiddesired number of objects, said door opening and closing means being ofsubstantially similar construction and including an electromagneticdevice actuated upon the passage of electric current therethrough tomove the core of said device, said core being integral with awedge-shaped cam element movable in a triangular cut out portion in sucha manner that the core and wedge device cause each half of the door topivot about a fulcrum suitably provided on each of said half doors.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the contour of the apertureof the upper and lower shutter mechanisms is so dimensioned that wherethe object to be counted and stacked is of a fragile nature, saidaperture contour and the gravity of said object will cooperate to insurea faultless descent of said object into the stacking means below, andthence upon the stack output means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,563,071 11/1925 Brecknell 214-6X 3,054,516 9/1962 Joa 214-6 3,205,794 9/ 1965 Califano et al. 214-6 X3,291,010 12/ 1966 Williamson 214-6 X ROBERT G. SHERIDAN, PrimaryExaminer.

R. J. SPAR, Assistant Examiner.

